XCOM 2: War of the Chosen - Now talking about the new WOTC Long War Mod

[coopasonic]

I kind of see what Blackhawk is talking about and I have probably reinforced it in my criticism of other people's comments on the game. When I play the game, if the enemy takes a shot, I consider it a failure. I think the tactics are still solid and make sense, but with qualifications. There are some enemies that demand specific and immediate responses if you value your soldiers lives. There also are reasons not to wait for the enemy to walk into your fire. You want to control the engagement which changes the tactical choices you make. I think some of this can be explained by the fact that, where XCOM is a game about defense, XCOM2 is much more about offense and guerilla combat. There is more time pressure because reinforcements mean death and the Chosen just take that to the next level. Be aggressive. B-E-Aggressive.

Honestly it's impossible for me to view the game without the biases of my experience. I've played the whole campaign so many times, I practically know every move every enemy is going to make and I can prepare for that so it's a different game for me than it is for someone new to the game.

Don't melee the Mutons. I don't care how great your ranger is. Don't do it. Chryssalids around? It's overwatch time. Gatekeeper or Sectopod, kill it NOW. Sectoid, kill an Advent first to distract it for a turn. Just some of the rules that are lodged in my head.

[TheMix]

Don't melee the Mutons.

I forget that one every time I start a new game (ED: I don't play Ironman - so it's just a reload). I mean... I shouldn't. They tell you in the description. Though maybe that's after you've researched it. But I still do it and am invariably surprised when it destroys my attacker.

Every. Time.

[Blackhawk]

Be aggressive. B-E-Aggressive.

That may be part of it. I am, in every strategy game I play, a defensive player. I like to establish a hard front and move it forward, not go all Rommel/Ghost Division.

[Blackhawk]

I think I'm still pining for Jagged Alliance 2. Sigh. Maybe I'll go give Silent Storm a shot.

[TheMix]

I was about to suggest Phoenix Point. I also tend to be a defensive player.

Then I remembered the ambushes... Though I think there is a mod that will turn those off. There will still be a few where you have to push a bit, but how much is probably up to you.

Edit: Which probably means I don't play XCOM 2 "correctly".

[coopasonic]

I think I'm still pining for Jagged Alliance 2. Sigh. Maybe I'll go give Silent Storm a shot.

On that front I am 100% in agreement with you. JA2 was my go to for tactical combat until I couldn't stand how outdated it felt... and by that time XCOM was there for me. So many attempt to reboot and remake Jagged Alliance... and so much disappointment.

[LordMortis]

Been playing this vanilla on the 2nd easiest level before moving in to War of the Chosen, as I never actually finished the game. I don't remember sucking at this nearly so bad as I do. I'm at the point where they both have overwhelming numbers and shields as well as armor and I've barely progressed at all. Time for a reset and to ponder what I'm doing so slowly that I've not done so slowly before.

To think I'm on the easy but not overly so level. I can't imagine playing anything more difficult without save scumming constantly.

[dbt1949]

How close are you to psi ops?

[LordMortis]

I was pretty close on the game I was playing but I killed it. I was just so outclassed with the game moving so quickly I must have been way off in my game. There were already three Advent sites I couldn't get to. I just got the resistence comms room up but didn't have the intel to expand the network. The whole thing was played rather poorly. I guess I was either much luckier or had much better instincts before.

[LordMortis]

Most days I play a couple of tactical battles. I think I may have finished the nonWotC variant though I don't remember doing so. I'm deep into the shadow project, I think and I remember variants of all of the missions that led me here.

[dbt1949]

I have finished the game of course but when I replay it there comes a point where I don't feel like going on towards the end and I don't finish it. Since I got the game I don't think I finished it more than a half dozen times.

[LordMortis]

I have finished the game of course but when I replay it there comes a point where I don't feel like going on towards the end and I don't finish it. Since I got the game I don't think I finished it more than a half dozen times.

I'm sure if I have finished it, it hasn't been more than once. I just finished blowing up the gate and I know I've played that far before. I don't know how close that is to the end. I set the game down doing the Avatar autopsy. I assume completing the autopsy puts me at end game. I don't remember doing end game before but I didn't remember defeating the gate until I saw the gate and when "Oh yeah, make sure I remember the surprise."

[coopasonic]

Only part I don't actually like is the final mission. I still play it each time, but it is just a slog. Actually the pre-mission to the final missions is also not very interesting to me. So yeah, great game where the parts that should be the best are the parts I like the least.

[LordMortis]

I'm on the final mission now. And nope. Never did it. Looks like I got right up to the final mission last time and got distracted. I hope it's not as anticlimactic as the finale in the original XCom. I'm sure I'll finish and play WotC again, though possibly not right away.

[Kraken]

Only part I don't actually like is the final mission. I still play it each time, but it is just a slog. Actually the pre-mission to the final missions is also not very interesting to me. So yeah, great game where the parts that should be the best are the parts I like the least.

I'm toying with playing again, but I don't want to slog through the endgame again. I enjoy developing and evolving my squads and bases, but I can't face riding the same rails to the same end for a fourth or fifth time. If they had provided just 2-3 variations on the boss mission the game would be far more replayable.

(edit) Has there been any chatter about XCOM 3?

[coopasonic]

(edit) Has there been any chatter about XCOM 3?

Yes, that it was put on the back burner when they got the opportunity to make a Marvel game (Midnight Suns). I suspect we still have a good long while to wait.

[Fardaza]

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[Fardaza]

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[Fardaza]

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[Fardaza]

<NOT talking about the Long War Mod>

After playing XCOM 2: WOTC for over 1,500 hours, I came across something I've never seen before!

This game has been a total mess. I've had 5 captains and a 5th level SPARK killed. Every time a soldier can miss a clutch 80%+ shot, they do. Every time a movement can unleash a new wave of aliens, it does. One thing after another, after another, after another. (Plus I'm just getting impatient too much.)

Anyway, the warlock is dead. The hunter and assassin are at max level. This doesn't usually happen. I take them all out as soon as possible. Some dark event has added a capture to every mission. This makes the Hunt Chosen III op a very risky one, so I haven't undertaken those last two yet. One of them requires a major to go on the op with no way to counteract the "capture HIGH" possibility.

Anyway, the assassin decided she'd had enough. Out of the blue, she launched an attack on the Avenger! The game let me equip 2 full squads of soldiers. There were 24 aliens moving in. And there was this BIG gun shooting at the ship! I had to kill all the aliens, 4 turrets shooting at the Avenger, the BIG gun, and the assassin. All 10 of my soldiers were wounded!! None died, but still it was brutal. This was a mission I'd never encountered before. Cool the way it played out, but man, was it intense. Don't know if I'd have survived if the assassin hadn't gone down in the first 3 turns. Also helped that I had a shadowed reaper scouting the turrets while the sharpshooters took them out from long range. What a rush!

[GreenGoo]

Let me check...567.1 hours. I have never seen that mission either. That is very cool!

[TheMix]

I feel like I remember something about the Chosen hunting for the Avenger. But in my games they never found it. Thankfully!

[Fardaza]

I feel like I remember something about the Chosen hunting for the Avenger. But in my games they never found it. Thankfully!

That's what it was! Not only was she hunting, but she found.

[Lassr]

I've run into that mission a few times. Now when I play I try to eliminate them before it happens because it can get brutal. I think my last 5 or 6 play throughs I have been able to avoid the chosen finding the avenger.

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk

[jztemple2]

The mother of all XCOM 2 mods just got its first update in a year, with 9445 words of patch notes proving it worthy of the Long War name

Since XCOM and XCOM 2 cemented themselves as the definitive PC strategy games of the 2010s, the Long War mods likewise became the definitive enhancements for both games. Longer, tougher, more varied, the Long War mods upped the complexity of some already impressively complex games, to the point we had XCOM expert John "Beagle" Teasdale write us some tips for surviving Long War 2 back in 2017. Time marches ever onwards, of course, and these days the version of the mod to play is Long War of the Chosen, which incorporates XCOM 2's incredible expansion.

Specifically Long War of the Chosen 1.2.0, which landed on Steam on December 16—one year to the day since the mod's last version.

The patch notes are as immense as you'd expect for such a mod, weighing in at 9,445 words and drilling down into microscopic details like "Warlock Mind Scorch can now also target SPARKs" and "Danger zone moved from TSgt to SSgt, allows suppression gunners to be able to get both cup and danger zone, buff to suppression builds."

The mod is available here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2683996590

Important!! "NOTE: Due to new SPARK changes in 1.2, the Shen's Last Gift DLC is now a hard requirement for this version and the game will crash if it is not present. There will be a 1.1 archive version available as well."

[jztemple2]

Let me elaborate on the above:

One notable change with LWOTC 1.2.0 is that the mod now requires XCOM 2's Shen's Last Gift DLC, which awkwardly isn't available to buy standalone on the Steam store (you've got to get it in a bundle). The XCOM Ultimate Collection happens to be 89% off as of this writing [on Green Man Gaming], though, so it's not too pricey to grab it.

[TheMix]

Huh... I just played through that earlier this year. And since I don't have Shen's, I think I can wait a bit before I tackle it again.

[jztemple2]

Huh... I just played through that earlier this year. And since I don't have Shen's, I think I can wait a bit before I tackle it again.

I'm wondering if Steam might make Shen's available again since it's needed for version 1.2 of the mod.

For everyone, be aware that if you get the XCOM Ultimate Edition from Green Man Gaming, it comes as a since Steam key, so you can't trade away keys for products you already have.

Man, it's been three years since I played XCOM 2 and tried the initial release of the Long War mod. I'm a bit rusty . However, I'm picking up the gameplay as I go along. The mod does have some tutorial screens to help the newbie players a bit.

I can't believe I've taken more that three thousand screenshots of this game .

[Max Peck]

Shen's Last Gift is in the XCOM Ultimate Collection bundle on Steam, and IIRC Steam bundles let you complete them by only charging you for the items you don't already own. I can't confirm that in this case because I already have all of them.

It's not currently on sale on Steam, but I expect it will be when the Steam Winter Sale begins in a few hours. If so, you should be able to complete the set on the cheap.

[TheMix]

I checked. They are crediting, but I only have 6 of the 11 items in the bundle. The bundle is showing ~$25 for me (34% off). Not feeling up to spending that much on a game that I may not even play again.

[Max Peck]

The Steam sale should be starting today, so that might bring it down to an impulse buy level.

[jztemple2]

Question to folks who might know: In the table below, some of the soldiers in their name box have a green, yellow, orange or red "AP", and some also have little triangles around the AP. I think that this means Ability Points for the training facility, but why the colors and the little triangles?

[TheMix]

I don't recall. I can't remember if that coloring is new. But there were a number of changes made to interfaces to add color to make them more easily understood.

[TheMix]

I looked through the patch notes, but didn't see anything relevant. Which may mean that it's not a new introduction.

[jztemple2]

First of all, having a lot of fun with the the game plus the LW mod v1.2, although I can't be sure if I ever played the Chosen version of the LW mod, maybe just the XCOM2 version.

Next, I'm getting my ass kicked, the Long War mod is no easy ride, even on Rookie. But there are so many interesting things going on. I just wish I had more of... everything

Finally, I'm confused about something. Maybe it's a bug, maybe it's a feature? Anyway, my squad management screen says this squad is Available, but the individual members are Infiltrating. And the squad name is not show at all as being on a mission on the globe. What am I missing about this?

[TheMix]

That seems buggy. I thought they were unavailable if infiltrating... but maybe they changed that? That said, I have never had a squad infiltrating on a mission and not show up on the map. I'd suggest double checking, but I suspect that you have already triple and/or quadruple checked.

[jztemple2]

That seems buggy. I thought they were unavailable if infiltrating... but maybe they changed that? That said, I have never had a squad infiltrating on a mission and not show up on the map. I'd suggest double checking, but I suspect that you have already triple and/or quadruple checked.

Yup, I've checked a number of times. I also asked on Discord but got a bunch of people making guesses. One that made sense was that the squad had been assigned a mission but somehow it got canceled. The soldiers still were doing their infiltrating thing for several days, then they were available again. I'll make notes of any squad I assign to a mission and the location and see if it happens again.

[jztemple2]

I don't remember if there in the vanilla Chosen, those missions where you recover a number of crates while ADVENT is trying to do the same thing and kill you too . Anyway, I just had one of those missions where it was considered a success if I got six of the crates; I got fourteen . Very productive too:

[TheMix]

I love those missions!

I usually can get almost all of them. But you definitely have to plan. And move a lot more aggressively than normal.

[Fardaza]

And yes, it's in vanilla Chosen.